 |
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Desolate \Des"o*late\, verb (used with an object) [imp. & p. p. {Desolated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Desolating}.]
1. To make desolate; to leave alone; to deprive of inhabitants; as, the earth was nearly desolated by the flood.
2. To lay waste; to ruin; to ravage; as, a fire desolates a city.
Constructed in the very heart of a desolating war. --Sparks.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Desolate \Des"o*late\, adjective [L. desolatus, p. p. of desolare to leave alone, forsake; de- + solare to make lonely, solus alone. See {Sole}, adjective]
1. Destitute or deprived of inhabitants; deserted; uninhabited; hence, gloomy; as, a desolate isle; a desolate wilderness; a desolate house.
I will make Jerusalem . . . a den of dragons, and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant. --Jer. ix. 11.
And the silvery marish flowers that throng The desolate creeks and pools among. --Tennyson.
2. Laid waste; in a ruinous condition; neglected; destroyed; as, desolate altars.
3. Left alone; forsaken; lonely; comfortless.
Have mercy upon, for I am desolate. --Ps. xxv. 16.
Voice of the poor and desolate. --Keble.
4. Lost to shame; dissolute. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
5. Destitute of; lacking in. [Obs.]
I were right now of tales desolate. --Chaucer.
Syn: Desert; uninhabited; lonely; waste.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
desolate
adjective
1: providing no shelter or sustenance; "bare rocky hills"; "barren lands"; "the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes"; "the desolate surface of the moon"; "a stark landscape" [syn: {bare}, {barren}, {bleak}, {stark}]
2: pitiable in circumstances especially through abandonment; "desolate and despairing"; "left forlorn" [syn: {forlorn}, {godforsaken}, {lorn}]
3: crushed by grief; "depressed and desolate of soul"; "a low desolate wail"
4: made uninhabitable; "upon this blasted heath"- Shakespeare; "a wasted landscape" [syn: {blasted}, {desolated}, {devastated}, {ravaged}, {ruined}, {wasted}]
verb
1: leave someone who needs or counts on you; leave in the lurch; "The mother deserted her children" [syn: {abandon}, {forsake}, {desert}]
2: reduce in population; "The epidemic depopulated the countryside" [syn: {depopulate}]
3: devastate or ravage; "The enemy lay waste to the countryside after the invasion" [syn: {lay waste to}, {waste}, {devastate}, {ravage}, {scourge}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
200 Moby Thesaurus words for "desolate": abandoned, acarpous, acheronian, afflict, aggrieve, agonize, alone, anguish, annihilate, arid, bare, barren, black, bleak, break down, bring to ruin, bring to tears, celibate, cheerless, childless, comfortless, condemn, confound, consume, crush, crushed, cut up, damn, dark, daunt, deal destruction, decimate, deep-troubled, defenseless, deject, dejected, demolish, depopulate, depredate, depress, depressed, desecrate, desert, deserted, desole, despoil, despondent, destitute, destroy, destroyed, devastate, devastated, devour, disconsolate, discourage, discouraged, dishearten, dismal, dismay, dispeople, dispirit, dispirited, dissolve, distressed, down, downcast, downhearted, drained, draw tears, drear, dreary, dried-up, dry, embitter, empty, engorge, excruciate, exhausted, fallow, fatherless, forlorn, forsaken, friendless, fruitless, funereal, gaunt, gelded, gloomy, gobble, gobble up, godforsaken, grieve, gut, gut with fire, havoc, heart-stricken, heart-struck, heartsick, heartsore, helpless, homeless, hopeless, impotent, incinerate, inconsolable, ineffectual, infecund, infertile, inundate, isolated, issueless, jejune, joyless, kithless, lay in ruins, lay waste, leached, lonely, low-spirited, melancholy, menopausal, miserable, motherless, mournful, murky, neglected, nonfertile, nonproducing, nonproductive, nonprolific, obliterate, oppress, outcast, overwhelm, pillage, poor, poverty-stricken, prostrate, ravage, ravaged, raze, remote, ruin, ruinate, ruined, sack, sad, sadden, shipwreck, sick, sick at heart, sine prole, solitary, somber, sorrow, sorrowful, soul-sick, spiritless, spoliate, sterile, stricken, sucked dry, suicidal, swallow up, teemless, throw into disorder, torment, torture, unconsolable, uncouth, uncultivated, unfertile, unfrequented, unfriended, unfruitful, unhappy, uninhabited, unleash destruction, unleash the hurricane, unoccupied, unpeople, unplowed, unproductive, unprolific, unsown, untilled, upheave, vacant, vandalize, vaporize, virgin, waste, wasted, without issue, woebegone, woeful, wrack, wreak havoc, wreck, wretched
 |
Definitions retrieved from local copies of the freely distributed DICT client/server software and databases. Click here for database copyright information. - KM |